A Good Baby

After each time I gave birth, people often asked me if my newborn was a "good" baby. This
question always amused me. What's a "good" baby anyway? I'm sure it was their way of asking if
my baby was fussy, colicky, or slept through the night. Since I don't believe that there are "bad"
babies, I always said that my child was "good." So what if they sometimes required extra assistance
or attention - they were all colicky and suffered from ear infections. My youngest child also had eczema, gas, rashes, and often spit up and vomited.

Some doctors and nurses told me that babies were supposed to be colicky. I didn't agree. I really felt that something else was going on to cause each of them to act the way they did. After coming across an article on allergies to dairy and corn products, I was pretty sure I had my answer. After eliminating certain foods from my diet, my children's symptoms improved.

I admit that restricting my diet was a bit difficult, especially with my youngest child. He is sensitive to many foods, including dairy, corn, nuts, beans, certain fruits, yeast, and caffeine. It's been challenging to find a variety of foods, but I've done some research and have learned how to cook using soymilk and different vegetables.

My two oldest children outgrew their food sensitivities by the age of four. I'm confident that my youngest will outgrow hers in due time, too. Through the colicky periods and the calm periods, breastfeeding, attachment parenting, and La Leche League have helped me raise "good" babies.
Page last edited 2007-10-14 09:30:37 UTC.